


Out of My Reach

by Kristabec



Category: Original Work
Genre: Animal Death, Blood and Injury, Injury Recovery, Mental Health Issues, Minor Violence, Other, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-10 19:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10445211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kristabec/pseuds/Kristabec
Summary: No-one knows what really happened or why, the only thing that's known for sure is that majority of the population is now dead and the ones that are still alive are being hunted.people are being traded, used as currency. Athena knows this all too well.Athena's convinced that she needs to be alone to survive, Victor however knows that you need company to stay sane.





	1. I Don't Need You

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first attempt at writing seriously, any (constructive) feedback is welcome

Athena had thought nothing of the crunch of leaves when she heard them ten minutes ago, it was stupid oversight of her part because now she's stuck outside, peering around the corner of the house with only her backpack which barely has enough supplies in it, staring at the stranger who disrupted her 'lunch' (if you could call it that.)

  
She'd been watching him through a crack where the weather boards meet, _What is he doing? he's been standing there for five minutes just looking around, he shouldn't be out in the open stupid idiot_  
She watched him for a while, observing him, after all it’s the first living person she has seen in months.

Athena decided to attack when she saw the hoard of kitchen knives he had tucked haphazardly into his backpack.  
"You can do this Athena, you've done it before you can do it again" she whispered as she unclasped the hunting knife from her thigh. She waited until his attention was on something away from the house.

"On three, One" she took a deep breath "Two" she braced her feet "…..three"  
Athena launched herself from her hiding place running as fast as she could, knife in hand, at the stranger.

  
The stranger turned and almost knocked his sunglasses off in shock "Holy shit what the FU-" Athena slammed her body into his, upturning him. It was easy for her to restrain him as he hadn't expected a person, let alone a short blonde girl to appear out of nowhere. She got him onto the ground, probably crushing whatever he had in his bag and breaking his sunglasses.

She sat on his stomach, her feet under his legs in such a way that he couldn't move them. Her knife was held on his neck, she applied pressure, not enough to kill but enough to draw blood.

"WAIT" the stranger, who she know realised couldn't be much older than her yelled frantically " WAIT, please don't kill me, I'm not a threat, please" he squeezed his eyes shut and awaited his fate, Athena released her knife but kept it close to his face.

"How do I know you aren't trying to trick me" she questioned, "how do I know if I let you up you won't try to kill me" he was taking too long to answer for her liking so she put the knife back to his throat pressing hard "YOU WANT TO LIVE, HUH, ANSWER ME"

The stranger let out a raspy breath but seemed to regain his calm cool composure he had before she jumped him, "if I wanted to kill you I would have done it already, y'know considering you left my arms free and I could easily reach the other knife on your leg thing, what even is tha-WHOA"

She grabbed the strap of his pack and managed to roll him over, pinning his hands behind his back, how could she be so dumb, she sits on his arms and pulls every knife from his pack, throwing them at least a meter away.

"do you have anything else on you" Athena asked, tapping her knife on the back of his neck. "no, just the knives" the stranger huffed.

She scrunched her eyebrows together, was she really going to let him live,  
"ugh fuck it"  
"what?" shit, I'd said that out loud.  
"nothing" she dismissed , "now if I let you up you have to promise not to fight me, because I swear to god I will kill you" the Stranger sighed, "I promise"

"Pinkie promise"  
"wha-"  
"I said, pinkie promise" Athena roughly twisted his hand and linked pinkies.

She cautiously got up off his back and stepped as far away as quickly as she could.

The stranger stood up and straightened his clothes, "aw come on, these were my favourite sunnies" Athena looked at him as he held his sunglasses, one lens was missing and an arm was snapped, he whined as he dropped them onto the ground. She almost felt guilty but quickly dismissed the feeling, straightening her back and looking forward. _No emotion, no pain_ Athena chanted inside her head.

The stranger sighed and looked up at Athena. He stepped towards her and she took another step back  
"whoa calm down, I haven't even got my knives" she looked over towards where the knives where scattered across the dead grass, and relaxed slightly.

He smiled slightly, "I'm Vic, and you are" he tilted his head to the side, "Athena" she said bluntly.  
Vic stuck out his hand and Athena just stared at it. "uh its called a hand shake, do you not know how to shake a hand" Vic chuckled.

"I know what it is dumbass, I just don’t trust you." Athena snapped, she hated being belittled, it reminded her of _him_ and it made the scars on her back prickle.  
"well Athena you forced me to pinkie promise so I think you can shake my hand" Vic waited, Athena stepped forward and limply shook his hand.

"OK, so what now?" Vic asked  
"what do you mean what now" Athena said flatly "you're going to leave me alone and keep walking to where ever you were going"  
She turned to leave when Vic put his hand on her shoulder, She spun around knife in hand "Do not touch me" she spat.  
Vic lifted his hand "sorry, sorry" he lifted both hands in surrender.  
"you're the first person I have seen in weeks and I don't particularly like being alone, s'quite boring, maybe we could like, y'know team up or something"

Athena scrunched her nose, she hated people, people always want something, her food, her supplies, her.  
"No"  
"aw come on, surely you need company" Vic followed Athena around the side of the house where she left her bag,

"At least let me stay with you for one night." he pleaded "and then I'll leave"  
Athena thought about it, she could use some actual sleep and he could keep watch. He might even have some food.

  
"fine"

  
"plea-wait what" Vic stuttered,

  
"you can stay, for one night" she held up a finger, "and if you try anything I will kill you no questions asked"

  
"I don't doubt that"

\--------------------------------

Night fall came quickly, Vic was surprised when Athena went under the house, not in it. He wasn't really listening but she'd said something about people being too stupid to check under the house.

He noticed that she'd ripped up floorboards to let the smoke from the fire travel up.

Athena had been stoking the fire in a hole she'd dug when Vic started asking questions.

"how old are you?"

  
"24"

  
Vic wriggled in excitement "oh hey me too, how long have you been by yourself"

  
Athena cringed "since the start of winter"

  
"holy shit that’s like 11 months, were you with someone before that? What happened?"

 _OK_ _no more questions_ Athena thought. "we aren't talking about this" she slapped her hands onto her thighs "you're on first watch, wake me up in three hours and keep the fire going"

"Oh" Athena pointed a finger at Vic "and remember, you try anything and you are dead"  
"I know I know" Vic said his attention turning to the fire.

 

He knows he's supposed to be keeping watch but her can't stop looking at her. She's so strange, he thought, she sleeps sitting up with her back wedged into the corner of the wall, her hand resting on top of her knife ready to grab at any moment.

Vic can't help but drift off into thought, he thought briefly about Athena, How'd she end up alone? But he mainly thought about his family, his mum, his dad, his little sister Amelia. Are they OK? Is Amelia safe?

Vic flinches when he thinks of the last time he saw his family. If only he'd done what he was told, maybe then his father wouldn't be dead, his mother and sister might have had a chance to be happy.

 

Vic hadn't known he'd fallen asleep until panicked whimpers woke him, frantically he looked around and his eyes landed on Athena, her body was twitching and she was whispering something. Vic got closer so he could make out what she was saying.

"no…..please, I don't want to……mark no…" she sounded terribly afraid  
Vic couldn't take listening to it anymore, he gently put his hands on her shoulders and shook her lightly  
"Athena? Athena wake up" with a few more shakes she opened her eyes.

She lashed out with her hands, her nails scraping the side of Vic's face "GET AWAY" she screeched.

He lunged forward pinning her arms by her side.

"GET OFF ME GO AWA-" she struggled relentlessly  
"HEY, hey shhh shhh, its ok, I've got you, you're ok" Vic reassured her in a soft voice, he held her until she calmed down.

When he let her go her body stiffened up, she looked down and scooted away from Vic. "are you ok?" he asked her ducking his head down so he could see her face. "I'm fine" she said bluntly, she softened slightly "did-did I say anything?" her voice was small and weak.

He thought about asking her about this person, Mark but he decided she'd had enough stress. "no, you where just mumbling and moving around"

"oh ok" she straightened up, "you can sleep, I'll watch for the rest of the night." she turned so she was facing away from Vic.  
"are you sure, I can stay up if you need some company?"  
Athena was taken back by this comment, she'd forgotten what if felt like to be cared about.

 _can't let feelings in, feelings cause pain_ , and with that thought she shut off.  
"No, I don't need anybody, I'm fine one my own" she snapped. She pulled her knees up to her chest and draped her arms over them, looking outside through the gap in the wooden panels.


	2. Feral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter is double the length of the last, i'm hoping that it reads well.

The distant sound of barking woke Vic from his heavy sleep, as he pushed himself up he noticed an absence.

Athena was gone.

He should have expected this; they did have a deal after all. 

A thought Struck Vic as he frantically looked around for his belongings, letting out a sigh of relief when he realised everything was still with him, and he buried the remains of the fire and crawled out from under the house.

Vic re-adjusted his backpack and stretched, he looked around, trying to decide which direction he should head in.

He had only walked around twenty meters when he heard it, a piercing cry of absolute terror. Without a second thought he changed directions and ran towards the scream.

As He got closer the screaming subsided but he could hear a familiar whimpering. Oh god, Athena, willing his legs to move faster, He followed drag marks in the dirt, unsettlingly streaked with blood, he passed a dog with a fatal wound on its neck, and she’s putting up a fight he thought. 

He could see the pack of dogs about 100 meters away, snarling and biting at the small figure on the ground. 

Vic pulled two of the knives from his backpack, "HEY" he bellowed trying to distract the pack, a few turned and began running towards him. "Come on" Vic sneered planting his feet, puffing his chest out, ready to attack.

As he forced a knife into the side of one of the dogs, it let out a high pitched whine as Vic pushed it off to his left.

A much larger dog knocked Vic down before he had a chance to react, he could feel the gravel and dirt scraping the skin off his back. The Dog snarled and snapped, spit flying in every direction, it was trying to go for Vic's' face, He managed to hold its jaws away but he couldn't do anything about its claws scratching deep into his chest.

The other dogs surrounded Vic, growling and barking, but none of them attacked.

Vic managed to get a hand free.  He frantically searched for the knife he dropped beside him, he found it and his hand closed around the handle, he drove the knife up and into the canine's shoulder, the dog reared and pushed down onto Vic harder than before.

As its teeth scraped his neck Vic desperately stabbed the animal six more times before it even yelped. Finally he must have hit something crucial. The dog went stiff with a cry and then dropped its full weight onto Vic's already injured chest, heaving He rolled the beast off him. Standing as quickly as he could, ready for the next fight.

Vic was surprised to see that the rest of the pack had begun retreating.  I must have killed their alpha, He realised. 

When the dogs broke into a run moving away from him,  he dropped to his knees, panting he looked down at his chest,  dirt and grit had become enmeshed with raw pink flesh and blood had seeped into the front his shirt staining it a strange pink colour, but it was only a surface wound, nothing serious.

  
She was curled into a ball but he could see the injuries on her shoulder and thigh.A small sob broke him out of his thoughts, "Fuck, shit shit shit" Vic half crawled half stumbled over to Athena.

"Athena, hey, oh my god, Athena" Vic gently tried to sit her up, she cried out in pain as he pressed his hand into her back, a bit too close to her shoulder, her fists were clenched and sweat had broken out of her forehead. Her once white shirt was now discoloured by blood and dirt.

Every movement made Athena whimper and sob. "Athena we need to move" Vic hurriedly explained and picked her up as carefully as he could, trying not to put pressure on any of her wounds, she clung to his chest desperately, as much as it hurt Vic, he knew she was in much more pain.

Athena had passed out as Vic carried her back to the house they had hold up in the night before.

There was no way he could carry her under the house, he slowly put her down so that she lay on her side, unfortunately waking her in the process.

He threw his backpack through the small door on the side on the house; he removed Athena's pack as gently as he could chuck it alongside his own.

"I am so sorry for this" Vic whispered as he put his hands under Athena's arms and began dragging her under the house.  She tried to contain her cries of pain but to no avail.  "Shh it's ok, it's almost over, almost there" Vic tried to reassure her, but his voice was laced with panic and he doubted that she even heard him.

He propped her against one of the wooden foundations, cringing when she whined.

Athena knew she shouldn't have tried to fight the dogs; of course they'd overpower her. Her back was burning and he thigh felt like it had been torn to shreds, she felt dizzy and her head rolled to the side,

She watched as he hastily pulled his shirt over his head, revealing the deep scrapes on his chest, she tried to ask him if he was ok but he shushed her. He tore his shirt into strips and laid them on top of his bag. "Hey, Athena, stay with me ok, stay with me” Vic’s voice cut through the clouds in her mind, she lazily opened her eyes trying to find him. "You're gonna be ok, I'm gonna fix this" she could hear the panic in his voice that he was trying to contain.

"I'm really sorry but I have to get these off you" Vic said, gesturing to her clothes. "I need to clean your cuts ok" he added quickly.

Athena couldn't care any less. She was in pain and wanted it gone. Vic leaned her forward slightly and hesitantly grabbed the bottom of her shirt pulling it up slowly, trying to pull it away from her back where it was starting to stick. Once her shirt was off he put it down next to her and slowly placed her back against the wooden post again.

He untied the fabric around her uninjured thigh that held her knives and then moved his hands to the buttons of her pants, looking up at her to ask if it was ok. Athena nodded weakly and he undid her fly shuffling the sides past her hips. He leaned over her and put a hand on her lower back so he could lift her butt. Their faces incredibly close for a spit second before he moved back. 

Athena groaned in pain as he tugged on the legs of her jeans. He was trying to be gentle but the blood had started to dry and stick to the open wound. Vic got her jeans to her ankles and hurriedly unlaced her boots and pulled them off, followed by her jeans.

 

Vic crawled to his bag and grabbed the torn strips of his shirt; he also grabbed the water bottle that was tucked into the side of his pack.

He crawled back over to Athena and set down the pieces of fabric. "This is going to sting ok, hold onto my shoulder if you need to" Vic said calmly. He unscrewed the cap of his water bottle and poured small amounts of water onto her right thigh. A searing pain shot through Athena as her hand latched onto Vic's bare shoulder gripping it tightly.

The pain in her leg was still there but she was glad it was secure. Athena held her breath as Vic scooted closer and leant her forward, situating him behind her so he could tend to the bites on her shoulder.Vic finished flushing out Athena's thigh wound, wincing at the size of it, grabbing two long pieces of his shirt, He folded one strip and placed it carefully onto her injury, with the other piece he threaded it under her leg and pulled it taught over the other piece of fabric, tying it on the outside of her leg.

"Jesus Athena, they really did a number on you" Vic half heartily joked, obviously trying to make her feel better.

She hissed as he poured the water into the bite wounds.

He did the same with the fabric as he did with her thigh, folding a piece and placing it directly onto where she was still bleeding, only this time he tied a few pieces together and criss-crossed them around her chest, over her shoulder and across her back to keep it secure.

He went to move out from behind her when Athena spoke in a small voice.

"Vic, Wait" she groaned

"What’s wrong, are you ok?" Vic panicked

"I'm fine, it's just-" Athena sighed "can you stay here please" She weakly leaned back the rest on Vic chest, not putting too much pressure on his own cuts and bruises.

"Of course" He unconsciously pressed hips lips to the top of her head.

Athena welcomed the affection. Her mantra being forgotten for now.

 

\----------------------

 

Athena's whole body throbbed in pain as she woke. She panicked slightly as she remembered yesterday's events but calmed when she noticed the arms wrapped gently around her. She shivered, due to her lack of clothes. Suddenly feeling very exposed she frantically slipped out of Vic's arms, groaning loudly. She dragged herself over to her bag and rummaged through it looking for something to cover herself with.

  
"Athena, what are you doing" Vic moved groggily towards her, carefully putting his hand on her uninjured shoulder. She needed to cover herself, fuck what if Vic saw she thought, her mind instantly going to the scars along her back.

Athena couldn't help but cry, "don't touch me, and don’t look at me please" she begged, clutching a flannel shirt to her chest, backing away from Vic.

"Athena, stop" Vic said sternly. She froze, her mind going back to Mark, stop struggling AJ, she sobbed painfully at the memory.

"Hey, hey, its ok, I'm sorry, here I'll help you" he hushed his voice and looked at Athena. She nodded hesitantly.

Vic put out his hand nodding towards her shirt, she held it out to him and he took it.

Unbuttoning the shirt he moved closer to Athena. "Arms out" he said softly, she rose her arms too quickly

"Ah-fuck" Athena yelped clutching her shoulder.

"Ok, slow down ok, baby steps" Vic cooed.

He edged the sleeve up her injured shoulder first, apologising every time she groaned, he moved behind her to help with her other sleeve, leaning over her shoulder so he could see what he was doing. Athena's cheek tingled because of how close their faces are.

"Do you need help with the buttons?" Vic asked sheepishly, his face still close to hers.

Athena turned her head so that she was looking up at him, "I should be ok" she mumbled, Vic started moving his head away when Athena pushed her chin up so that their lips met.

Vic was shocked at first and didn't react, saddened Athena pulled her lips away, Vic was quick to put his hand on the back of her and pull her back in. 

He felt her breathing change and he paused. “I can stop if you want.”  he panted putting a hand either side of her head and looked into her eyes which were welling up with tears, "do you want me to stop?" he said more clearly this time.It was a slow kiss, nothing frantic about it, Athena had turned around, despite the pain in her shoulder and thigh, so that she was straddling Vic's lap.  His lips now against her neck. One hand in her hair, the other trailing down, down, down.

"I-I don't know" Athena barely whispered, attempting to lean back in and kiss Vic.

"No, Athena stop" Vic pulled her back "what's wrong?"

 

Athena sat back into Vic's lap, fiddling with her hands.  She let out a shaky breath, trying desperately to not burst in tears.  "I can't, Mark he- he, fuck" She brought her hands up to the sides of her head, like she was trying to claw out a memory.

Vic waited; he didn't want her to shut off. Athena sucked in a deep breath and Vic took her hands in his own. "You don't have to tell me, ok"

"No" Athena said sternly "I need to"

She paused, a mix of nervousness and fear flashing across her eyes.

"Do you want me to ask some questions? will that help?" Vic suggested.

"Mmhhmm" Athena nodded coyly.

"OK, let's start with Mark, who is he?"

Athena flinched at a memory "My boy- Ex-boyfriend"

She managed to shut off her emotions to answer Vic's questions,

"OK, what happened to him?"

She couldn’t stop this memory from entering her mind, she remembered killing him, and she was brutal.

  
"Is that why you are alone? How did he die?"  Vic was pushing but he knew she needed to tell someone,"He died” she said bluntly

Athena however was reliving the moment she practically tore apart her previous partner, in that moment she felt feral, she remembered that she actually laughed as she drive a knife into Mark's stomach.

"I killed him" She uttered, looking down.

Vic tried to remain calm, to be honest he was scared shitless of the woman sitting on his lap. He saw Athena had begun looking distressed at the fact that he had gone silent. So he spoke up.

"Why did you kill him Athena?"  He held her hands tighter and ducked his head down so he could look her in the eye.

He followed her gaze as she lifted her head

 

When she first tried to speak a strange sound, cross between a squeak and a sob, was all that came out of her throat. She swallowed, took a deep breath and started again.

"He-he used me"

"He used you?"

"He used me as trade Vic, for supplies" Athena started getting angry, she fidgeted and winced in pain from her injuries, "He fucking traded me so he could get food, he didn't care who it was, as long as he got supplies"

"Wait so by trade you mean he-"

Athena cut him off

"He let them rape me" she said, disgust dripping off every word.

"Holy fuck, Athena, I-I'm so sorry, I-I- fuck" Vic was stunned

"Don’t apologise Vic, it wasn't you” Athena relaxed in Vic, resting her head on his shoulder, "can we stop talking about this please"

  
"You should probably get back to sleep, it'll help with your pain" He slowly pet her hair, rocking her slightly as if she were a baby."Yes, yeah of course" Vic carefully wrapped one arm around Athena's waist, the other resting on the back of her head.

Athena sighed snuggling into Vic's neck, "don't leave me ok Vic"

He almost missed it because she was so quiet, "I won't, I promise"

"Pinkie promise" she mumbled holding out her hand,

Vic laughed softly, "pinkie promise"


End file.
